Chapter Six
Paektu and Routing
Peridot 3ONG,
Please stop contacting us to see if we have any reports on the battle of Paektu. We are not privy to those reports and we'd rather not comment on it.
-The estate of Utahlite 22U4
Paektu was the only major land bridge between China and Korea, it would be a vital point to either hold or breakthrough for the Chinese front. Utahlite and her gems readied themselves for a battle, the single Paygan Am-14 of 20,000 amethysts would be facing off against nearly 30,000 gems and 1,000 human volunteers. Rose's march also wasn't unnoticed, scouts had reported Rose's movements for weeks and Utahlite had picked out a certain ridge in Paektu to hold. The steep ridges was hoped to break the larger force up and disorganize an already disorganized mob.
During this month of movement detailed reports were gathered from Utahlite's command post, the exact position, size, gems recognized (which were quite a few), and detailed weather reports from day to day. Hessonite eventually had to stop reading the reports unless they were urgent. Utahlite, from the reports at least, seemed nervous coming into this battle. The estate won't comment on whether she was or not, or if that played into the battle but she never did this during her time as commander in the Pleiadian war nor the Wolf rebellion. If I was to guess, this was the first time commanding in 1,000 years without Rose Quartzs and against an army she had to defend against, with a Paygan that had already surrendered in a major battle and hadn't been used since then. Not even her counterpart, Variscite, had to deal with a situation like this, her Hoplites and Legions would be trained and readied when going into battle. Utahlite got dealt a bad hand in this part of the war, although from a pure commander level Utahlite and Rose are pretty close.
Days before the battle we know that Utahlite wrote a will since she sent it to Moissanite 1A2B, giving everything she owned to Variscite and even sending a large chunk of unused money to her for her to come to earth. Other gems in her staff also wrote wills sending it Moissanite 1A2B so they could be fulfilled, although many of these wouldn't need to be acted on. Utahlite would face off against Rose Quartzs in the 11th month of the war, holding the steep hill in wait for Rose.
The day's winds were recorded, a strong wind from the mountain giving the Rose army a disadvantage for fighting against the wind. The banners of the two sides whipped and furled with the strong winds, the Diamond Authority's symbol still proudly baring Pink Diamond as it whipped around. Rose held her army back, studding the landscape and the position she was in. Even the march to the army would be mired by foothills and steep inclines, and she knew there was no chance of forcing Utahlite from her position. Attack would be the only major option given to her.
But not directly, moving her gems up the side of the mountain. She planned to out flank the position, following the ridges of the mountain that she could march an army through across the distance between the two. Utahlite could only just watch the army move higher and higher on the mountain, until Utahlite had to look up to see her opponent. Surprisingly Utahlite didn't panic, as the army became restless and uneasy Utahlite didn't raise her voice when she moved her armies.
This ridge where Utahlite sat could split an army effectively two if they position themselves further down and facing the mountain. This would give up the height advantage but it would still have the same effect that she was going for anyways. Quickly the army moved, forming three deep ranks of Amethysts with Agates behind them. The way Rose took she couldn't help but watch as her enemy proceeded to out maneuver her maneuver.
Finally by midday the dance would be done and Rose marched down from the mountain ridges. Her army poured over the edges slowly, showing restraint that was not common in most armies. The battle flags of both sides danced wildly in the wind, although now their standards could be seen by each other. The Rose saltire danced in the wind against the Diamond Authority's standard. The wind carried the screams of both armies, insults and gestures were thrown at the opposing army.
After an hour of marching the armies finally met in combat. Sure enough the ridge made the Rose army disperse and become organized, minimizing the effect of their charge. The spears of the Amethysts let the Rose army impale themselves, although the odd Bismuth would cause a few of them to go flying away from the lines. The second and third ranks of Utahlite pushed forwards against the first rank, making them semi-immovable as the two armies clashed and swords stabbed down.
The screams of pain, courage, bravery, sorrow, and fear carried on the wind. Battlefields become a chorus of screams and this was no different. As one would fall two more voices joined the chorus, all being mixed together with the howls of the wind from Paektu. And in the middle of all of it sat Utahlite, her hammer swinging and her enemies running from it. She had fell three Bismuths during the battle, the gap she would create because of this would prove to be vital later during the retreat. The attempts at closing this gap would fail each time under the threat of Utahlite's hammer.
Even as the center held because of Utahlite herself, the right would begin to crumble. The footing on this side was awkward because of the steep cliff they were fighting against. And here the Rose army would have more room to work with against them, able to move around their lines and nearly surround that wing. And then the humans came up on the rear of the army.
Agats began to fall in the middle of the battle and as the Paygan began to waver they couldn't be whipped back in line. Utahlite, in the middle of her rage saw this, and knew that if she continued the army would be fully crushed. The army would fight their way through Rose quartzs.
One of the reasons why the Paygan had set up in a phalanx-like formation was for this. Utahlite's voice carried over the chorus, "CHARGE!" she yelled before disappearing into the army of Rose Quartz. The Paygan charged with her, the attacking Rose army was completely disorganized and not ready for this and would have to fight on the backfoot. The right wing was still hard fought. But as the left and center melted the Rose army, the right wing soon was able to retreat what survived from the fight. And instead of pressing on, Utahlite retreated north away from Rose and her army. They would try to give chase but with their weakened numbers and tired from battle they couldn't catch up.
Ultimately Utahlite would lose 8,000 gems, unable to picked up and carried with them. Rose would lose 4,000 gems for that month and would gain about 3,000 new allies from the remnants of Paygan Am-14 in the coming year. Utahlite, the "Champion of Pink Diamond" as she once had been known, would live to fight another day against Rose Quartzs.
While both armies present at the Battle of Paektu would be bloodied, the Rose Quartzs army had a much better position. Paygan Am-14 experienced losses they couldn't replace and this area had minor colonization efforts so they couldn't replace their losses with worker gems. Utahlite would continue to fall back until Beijing, she would send word for reinforcements against the coming tide of Rose Quartzs and her army.
The only reinforcement she would get would Hessonite herself, leaving the Ethiopian front to the care of a minor commander. She would move as fast as she could to join with Utahlite, only to remove her from the Asian command and using her as a bodyguard. Paygan Am-14 would march out of Beijing quickly after Hessonite took command. The weakened and tired Paygan marched out to find and fight the illusive Rose army.
During this march reports of large amount of Gems flying no banners moving about to the north and south of them. Hessonite would pay no mind, thinking they were just refugees fleeing Rose and her amy. A few days after the start of the march, Dalian fell to Rose's small naval force, two days after Beijing would report that they surrendered to a small Rose army that landed via the sea. Hessonite wheeled around to recapture Beijing, but the army to her south had raised banners to Rose Quartzs and were marching north.
Hessonite would hold a position behind Laoha river about 155 miles from Beijing. And the Rose army marched straight for it, marching with all due haste. As the day for battle came, Hessonite marched her army to the river and began to give a speech, but the Amethyst force wouldn't take it. Them and their Agates would threaten rebellion if Hessonite tried to make them fight. Utahlite would even refuse to follow Hessonite's orders, saying that it would be better if they marched north through the Inner Mongolian desert.
Hessonite was having none of it, outraged she became determined to go and fight the army herself. And that she did, marching out ot the far side of the Laoha river sword and armor ready to fight one against an army. But as the Rose army marched they found this gem screaming at them as her army stood behind the river and not in position to attack. Rose thought it a trap at first and set up camp away from the river. Hessonite would follow the army and actually catch up, demanding a fight behind the two commanders. A gem would march forward from Rose's camp to fight her but was cut down in an instant. Her determination to fight was made very clear to Rose, and she agreed but Hessonite would need to wait for camp to be made and they would fight in the morning. Hessonite would agree, possibly realizing she was out of the range of her army encase something terrible would happen to her.
The morrow would come with great clamor. Utahlite and Hessonite would march forward and meet with Rose and her Pearl, Pearl and Utahlite there to make sure that they don't kill each other. Rose wagered that if she lost the war would be over and she would surrender herself, Hessonite wagered the life of the Paygan assuring her that they would surrender themselves if Hessonite lost. The two armies watched with great intent as Hessonite and Rose readied themselves, Rose using her signature forged sword and shield, Hessonite using her sword and forged shield but had actual armor on.
Hessonite would make the first move, swinging her sword and lunging at Rose. Rose would gracefully block it and counter it with a jab from under her shield. The sword would glance off of the armor Hessonite had on, but the offensive continued trying to into her guard. The fast swings of Hessonite's sword would bounce off of Rose's shield, but Rose had to start fighting on the back foot.
After a quick break from Hessonite's offensive Rose countered with a shield rush of her. Hessonite would quickly dodge but the wrong way, and would get a good bite from Rose's sword cutting most of her armor on her sword arm. Hessonite would raise her shield to block the next attack but Rose hit her with her shield, Hessonite's shield would go flying and the next jab from Rose would be barely blocked.
Rose would try to overhand strike at Hessonite, but with quick thinking Hessonite managed to knock Rose's sword out of her after striking at it. Rose would stumble, and give just enough of an opening for Hessonite to ready her sword to strike at her head. In that moment her Pearl moved forth and struck at Hessonite with her spear, barely missing Hessonite's gem. Rose would then strike at Hessonite's gut with her shield. Pearl again would move to attack Hessonite but would only be stopped by Utahlite's hammer.
Pearl would go flying into the army of Rose Quartz. Rose would again attack Hessonite, causing her to go flying back towards the river. Utahlite's hammer would then meet with Rose's shield and a great din would sound through the valley. Utahlite and Rose would fight for about a minute before Hessonite ordered a retreat. Utahlite would disengage and run towards the river, outpacing both Rose Quartzs and her Pearl.
The army would flee, moving into the harsh deserts of Mongolia. The total march would take months to meet up with the Mesopotamian forces, completely abandoning east Asia to her fate. In the face of udder defeat, much of China would declare for Rose although a lot of this area hadn't been fully colonized like Mesopotamia and India. Hessonite would reinstate Utahlite as commander of Paygan Am-14 and would march ahead with all due haste. Utahlite wouldn't march for Mesopotamia and instead would march south through Tibet for their ultimate goal of Burma.
The progress of the march would slow to a crawl as they marched across the high mountains. The first year of the war would pass on the march, and Rose looked like she was in dominance of most of the planet. But her army was stretched across large swaths of land and most of it was hold up in the mountains of Ethiopia or stuck on Britain. And on the anniversary of the shattering of Pink Diamond, more Paygans would arrive.
Hello everyone! I know contrary to how I put author's notes I am putting this one at the end. I combined what was to be chapter six and seven due to both being a bit shorter than I wanted plus they covered pretty much the same topic. But I am more here to say that this fanfic will be on hiatus during december. I was doing National Writing Month for most of this and I am very tired from it, plus I am getting into an area I haven't planned out all that much so the last few chapters to me have felt meandering. I'll start again come the new year and hopefully new chapters will be released January 2018. Hope everyone stays safe, and happy holidays!
